The intrepid Lara Downes gave a recital of many of her “anniversaries” for Lenny (Bernstein) on June 1, 2018 at Trinity Wall Street and included Apropos, written for her at Copland House last August.
This compact miniature is an imagined conversation between Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. The opening and closing melody takes the theme from Copland’s Piano Variations (a piece Bernstein loved to play at parties where the guests, sipping cocktails, were expecting less intrusive background music). At the heart of Apropos is a bouncy, jovial (and at times serious) dialogue, inspired by the letters Copland and Bernstein exchanged. (Apropos begins at 1:03:50 – Lara introduces it at 1:00:00)